Vale Joe Abela

Harness racing friends and family are mourning the passing of Joe Abela, a trainer and driver of more than 40 years.

Mr Abela’s participation stretches to the start of digital records, since which time he trained 63 winners from 973 starters and drove 11 victories.

A pinnacle of his successes was when Solar Active won twice at Moonee Valley in April 2007, including his richest ever win in the Group 3 Coulter Crown.

For nearly 30 years that training had been with Mr Abela’s son Tyrone, and while the victories were generally always in Joe’s name they later formed an official partnership, with Gee Cee Calder delivering their first shared win in September last year.

They would go on to share seven victories and together prepare Madena Sky for a start in February’s Group 1 Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed For Speed Gold Series Final, running sixth.

“We haven’t had a Group 1 (runner) since the Inter Dominion Final with Solar Active in 2010,” Tyrone told thetrots.com.au at the time. “It seems like a very, very long time ago and he was our only one. (Madena Sky’s) one of our favourite horses actually. We do love her.”

The pair were profiled in Harnesslink after Carmy Dan produced the second win of their partnership at Terang.

“I was thinking as I was driving down there that it was where dad and I got our first real win together (in April 1993). Dad was the trainer, and I was the driver, and it was an unforgettable night,” Tyrone said.

“I always say Dad’s involvement in harness racing was an exercise in pure resilience. Dad came over from Malta in 1973 and, of course, half of the harness racing population in Australia is Maltese. It was almost a given that because he liked horses, that he would get involved through his friends.

“As they say, once the bug bites, it’s pretty hard to shake off, and for years, dad worked at the Army ordinance factory as a bomb inspector, but was always just pottering around with one horse.

“He’d constantly turn them over, none of them ever any good, and basically work them out of the back yard. In fact, he had a residential block at Altona at one stage and there was a vacant block next door – the horse literally lived in the garage!

“That’s how it started for dad, way before I was even born. It was nearly 20 years before he even had a horse run a place, which wasn’t long before we got our first win in 1993. But he loved the sport, and of course I came to love it as well, and was always going to get involved as a teenager.”

The pair’s first “proper horse” was Olympic Idol, who “gave us that first win” and “started everything for us”.

She would win nine races and be a great broodmare, with her granddaughters including the aforementioned Madena Sky.

Harness Racing Victoria extends its condolences to Mr Abela’s family and friends.

From Harness Racing Victoria